Schumer aims to stem pill abuse

SLATE HILL — U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer stopped at a local pharmacy Thursday to push for rule changes to let pharmacies take back unused prescription drugs.

BY NATHAN BROWN

SLATE HILL — U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer stopped at a local pharmacy Thursday to push for rule changes to let pharmacies take back unused prescription drugs.

Schumer, D-N.Y., speaking at a news conference at the NeighboRx Pharmacy, said that people would feel more comfortable going to their pharmacist than to a take-back event at a police station.

Many people have unused painkillers in their homes, the result of overprescribing for dental surgery and other common procedures and ailments.

Having fewer pills lying around, he said, would drive down their use by teenagers — 70 percent of abusers get their pills from homes; only 5 percent from a drug dealer, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Pills are also a common target for burglars, he said.

A 2010 law authorized the federal Drug Enforcement Administration to develop regulations to let pharmacies and other entities take back and dispose of pills, but the DEA hasn't made the changes yet. New York state passed a law this year allowing pharmacies to take back unused pills, but it's pending on the federal changes.

Abuse of opiate painkillers like hydrocodone and oxycodone has been rising nationwide; local police agencies are seeing more of it, and Orange County has one of the highest overdose rates north of the Bronx, behind only Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo, according to the Upstate New York Poison Control Center.

Schumer has made fighting abuse of prescription opiates one of his signature issues during the past few years.

Jim Conklin, executive director of the Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Council of Orange County, said the pills are a gateway to heroin abuse for some users.

The pills are seen as safer, since they're legal with a prescription and there aren't any needles.

"The initial exposure is easier," he said.

But the active ingredient is the same as heroin, and you can become physically addicted the same way.

Some pill users, he said, turn to heroin, which is both far cheaper than pills and more readily available on the street.